Sunday, November 30, 2008

"I dragged [Amy Winehouse] into [drugs] and without me there is no doubt that she would never have gone down that road. Now I have to let her go to save her life. I am not abandoning her. I am doing this out of love*,...I will do anything for her — and that includes walking away,...I'm not going to fight her for anything. I'm not taking a single penny off her."

-- Blake Fielder-Civil, showing what real men (and real artists) are made of, in New York's Daily News.

*I'm really happy to have a reason to add a "love" tag: never had one before now.

"Doesn't everyone know someone like this? Oh woe is me, and look how sad I am, life is just so hard, blah blah blah. It's always somebody whose life is pretty much fine and is waiting for someone or something to pop in and make it all have meaning for them. Drama queens feeling sorry for themselves and trampling over the people they're supposed to care about, like husbands. Nothing is their fault and they do nothing to fulfill themselves. And while they wallow in self-made misery and inflict it on their nearest and dearest, they think themselves so very deep and unique and intellectual.

I pity her husband. She will eventually divorce him, leaving him completely baffled."

-- Freeman Hunt, reminding me of you-know-who, in the comments section of Althouse.

Look at this wallpaper, above, for the new James Bond movie. Why's the movie called "Quantum of Solace"? Is there anything about quantum mechanics in the movie? Nope. It's just Hollywood - that hotbed of cultish NewAge nonsense - putting it's own newly-acquired ideas (of what quantum means for us) out there, so other cultists can follow-up later - possibly with another film - filled with bogus "beliefs", at another time.

Don't believe me? Well, The Mystic Bourgeoisie has listed (with his own creative renderings of the author's names) a few of the latest NewAge titles on his site, because some quantum-obsessed NewAge asshole sent him a brochure. They should give you a good idea of what Hollywood's reading:

Anybody starting to get the impression you're being set-up? Anybody starting to get the impression you're being used? These assholes won't even allow us to enjoy a fucking James Bond movie without trying to subversively manipulate us into buying all the rest of their bullshit.

And it doesn't stop there. That new Tom Cruise movie, "Valkyrie"? Well, both it's star and it's director, Brian Singer, are Scientologists, and they're attempting to turn the idea of cultism on it's head: now the cultists are the champions of freedom against the evil hordes who would stop them! Like there's no connection between Hitler's cultism and L.Ron Hubbard's. Sure, Tom, sure.

I swear, I want to let this stuff go one day, but there's no way that's possible as long as I can't escape it - and, also, as long as these people are allowed to keep trying to get their claws into our minds.

They've already destroyed my life - and I wasn't even a part of it - don't let them destroy yours:

Learn who these people are - and stay the fuck away from anything they're doing.

They need to be isolated - and shunned - for the assholes they are. We can worry about getting them help later.

"The gullibility which makes it possible for people to be taken in by such a bag of tricks as this. If it were an innocent, passive gullibility it would be excusable; but all too clearly, alas, it is an active willingness to be deceived."

-- Peter Medawar, describing every NewAger on the planet, for the Mystic Bourgeoisie.

The Mother of God, by Luna Tarlo, relates the story of the author's three-and-a half years of harrowing spiritual bondage to her own son, Andrew Cohen, a well-known American guru. The book describes her travels in India, Europe, and the United States with Andrew and his earliest disciples, and reveals in stunning detail her parallel inner journey from loving observer, to slave-like disciple, to a final wrenching assertion of autonomy.

This book will be of interest to anyone concerned with the preservation of human dignity in the face of constant manipulation by the various "powers to be." It will be of particular interest to every individual who has ever been harmed by the influence of a guru and also to those individuals' greatly distressed families.

The abuse of power, the incessant fear, the psychology of obsession are all explored from an intimate perspective. Since brainwashing cults and their grandiose gurus are proliferating in this country and around the world, this book is not only a mother's lament, but also a finger pointing to the growing appeal everywhere of authoritarianism and absolutism.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

I've got this weekend off, so I'm trying not to blog, but this damn obsessive-compulsive disorder has still got me looking at shit, so - call me weak but, since my NewAge wife ain't around to "take the tension off" on a Sunday, as it were - here's a quick round-up of the weirdness that I think is worth mentioning. (Remember: the red words are links, too.) Let's start off with:

"The medical astrologer is usually not a licensed medical practitioner, such as an M.D., N.D., D.C. or D.O., since most medical astrologers evolve out of the field."

Will somebody please contact that asshole, "Dr." Robert Wohlfahrt, and let him know this? He might be deciding it's time to "move on" right about now,...seeing how he's medically "evolving" and all.

"'What do you mean by that?' [Tom Cruise] asks in a sudden flash of anger,...for the remaining 45 minutes he talks almost without pause, in rambling sentences which don't always make sense."

This is normal cultish behavior for a Scientologist, before they go into full-on, whacked-out "I did the E-Meter today - How YOU doing?" mode.

"Rosie Live failed first on simple execution. The patter with guests was forced and the improv moments even worse (at least, I hope that the zillion Rosie's cleavage jokes were not planned). The staging was off, with lurid, deathly lighting that gave the show a creepier vibe than Alec Baldwin's using Rosie's boobs as a microphone had already."

Left-wing, luridly-lit, over-the-top lesbian humor, featuring a bunch of Obama boobs with a "creepy" vibe? How did it miss? And would you accept a blowjob from this woman? Is Rosie O'Donnell even a woman? Look at the picture again.

"...Patients receive nutritional supplementation with vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and animal glandular products 4 times per day on days 1-16, followed by 5 days of rest. Courses repeat every 21 days until death,..."

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's now time for me to present (the less weird part of) the very-weird, coffee enema, Gonzalez Therapy: the very first NewAge cancer "detoxification" program I've ever seen with a truth in advertising clause!

"Chronicled at every turn by the tabloids, [Steve McQueen] had been treated at a Mexican clinic with unorthodox methods: prayer, vitamins, coffee enemas and laetrile, a controversial preparation made from apricot pits."

Yea? Well, what struck me was you're looking at headstones to tell,...

"Jim Jones was a hero to American leftists,...the temple was as much a left-wing political crusade as a church,...so what if he abused children, sodomized a follower, tortured and held temple members at gun point, and defrauded the government and people of welfare and social security checks? He believes in socialism and so do we. That was the ends-justifies-the-means attitude that enabled Jim Jones to commit criminal acts in San Francisco with impunity. The people who should have stopped him instead encouraged him,...Jim Jones engendered enormous amounts of good will from Democratic politicians and activists. They allowed their political ambitions to derail their governing responsibilities. Frisco pols like Harvey Milk never seemed to care how Jones could, at the snap of his fingers, direct hundreds of people to stack a public meeting or volunteer for a campaign,...City Councilman Milk just knew that he benefited from that control, and therefore never bothered to do anything to inhibit the dangerous cult operating in his city. Instead, he actively aided and abetted a homicidal maniac. It wasn't just local hacks Jones commanded respect from. He held court with future First Lady Rosalyn Carter, vice presidential candidate Walter Mondale, and California Governor Jerry Brown,...A man who killed more African Americans than the Ku Klux Klan was awarded a local Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award and won the plaudits of California lieutenant governor Mervyn Dymally, state assemblyman Willie Brown, radical academic Angela Davis, preacher/politician Jesse jackson, Black Panther leader Huey Newton, and other African American activists."

Some things never change around here. Have you seen Sean Penn as Harvey Milk yet? Neither have I. Why not? I've got a feeling it's a whitewash of the Democrat's history.

"Alan Scherr was an art professor with a comfortable life in the Maryland suburbs, but he spent 25 years studying Transcendental Meditation in a quest for something more. The search took him and his family to Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, where they shed their old life in Silver Spring and meditated in the complex of a New Age mystic."

Um, all I'll say is this tale ended recently - in Mumbai, India - and it didn't turn out very NewAge-y or peaceful,..

"The most obvious and embarrassing explanation is taboo and blasphemous: That [Barack Obama] is a masterful politician who never has had any real ideology or persona other than his own diversity story and history, youth, and charisma that together allow him to be whatever is politically expedient at the time."

Now y'all hush with all dat hand-wringin': dat dere White Man said it, I didn't! I'm still trippin' 'cause he da president-elect and don't look nothin' like them dead mens on da dollar bills!!

"Here in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where I’m spending my holiday and where there is always lots to be thankful for, this commercial for a Barack Obama commemorative plate has been airing constantly on television. My in-laws (life-long Democrats) and I were already laughing out loud by the time the announcer says 'his confident smile and kind eyes are an inspiration to us all.' Seriously, that’s what it actually says. Operators are standing by."

And your dumb ass (and I'm being nice here, in case I can get a blowjob out of it:) referring to homeopathic preparations - as "remedies" - has absolutely nothing to do with this fucked-up situation, right? Do you people see what I'm up against? Damn it, instead of that bitch looking at a lousy slide of water, I could be getting a blowjob right now!

"So maybe you can’t afford health insurance. Even if you can, maybe you just don’t like going to the doctor all the time. In 21st-century America, there are plenty of alternatives to the 15-minute appointment, followed by the whopper bill.

I got this bit from a San Francisco newspaper I "recycled" from a trash can - then I violently threw it back in, so someone else could "recycle" it. Have you seen the sales stats for newspapers lately? They're practically homeopathic!

"We believe that -- 'we' means the political elite -- that all cultures are equal. I believe this is the biggest disease today facing Europe. . . . We should wake up and tell ourselves: You're not a xenophobe, you're not a racist, you're not a crazy guy if you say, 'My culture is better than yours.' A culture based on Christianity, Judaism, humanism is better. Look at how we treat women, look at how we treat apostates, look at how we go with the separation of church and state. I can give you 500 examples why our culture is better."

And never once would he have to mention homeopathy,...

"70 percent of all blacks said that they voted for [Prop. 8]. But 75 percent of black women did. There weren’t enough black men in the survey to provide a reliable percentage for them."

'Cause, as long as we gettin' blowjobs, nigga, we just ain't givin' a fuck!!! (Yes: that is the best Hip-Hop voice I can muster at the moment because - as I'm writing this - I'm consumed with getting a blowjob,...)

"So I’m standing in line waiting to board the flight that will bring me home to Los Angeles from the Federalist Society convention in DC. An upgrade has me in first class, so I’m happily waiting my turn as # 3 in the red line. Just as boarding started, Arianna Huffington comes dashing up, chatting on her cell self phone, and cuts right in front of me.

I quip, “so much for change we can believe in,” which earns me a dirty look but no apology.

I guess when you’re a Democrat Diva you don’t have to be polite to the little people. Or wait your turn."

-- Stephen Bainbridge, getting a crash course in what kind of "nice" NewAge behaviors The Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington learns from her guru - which she forces her employees to learn as well - which he dutifully describes on Punditry.

Just for comparison, one commenter added this:

I’ve heard that Ann Coulter is actually a decent person in real life. No, really, the obnoxious message that she delivers on a daily basis is just an act, a way to make a (handsome) living and keep herself in the spotlight. In person, she’s decent to everyone around her, tips generously, and never acts like Arianna.

Funny how that works."

Yea, it's a real knee-slapper, those little glimpses into the hearts of NewAgers vs. everyone else. I had the chance to watch that charade for 20 years, and it's the *little things* that always give it away:

I'm thinking of a visit I took with my NewAge ex-wife, Karine Anne Brunck, to a San Francisco Farmer's Market. While scanning a fruit stand, Karine decided she wanted to taste some, and she looks at the guy behind the stall and says, "Do you mind if I try it? - no, you don't mind." and proceeds to eat the fruit and spit out the seeds.

I'll never forget the look on the proprietor's face as he grasped that she was one of those supremely rude people who, for some reason known only to them, decides they are entitled to deny others the right to their humanity. As he looked at me, I remember turning to my wife and wondering what kind of person I had married - was she a sociopath? A psychopath? Surely, she was mentally ill, but it was hidden behind this carefully-constructed facade of (what others see as) European sophistication. I asked her what she thought she was doing, and she looks at the guy and says, "He doesn't mind.", completely oblivious that he was too polite to correct her himself, and because, at this point, he hoped to at least make a sale.

As Karine strolled away without a word to the man, I apologized and handed him a buck, and then me and this NewAge bitch continued to "careen" to (what is now) the obvious conclusion of our divorce.

*Also: I try not to re-use photos, but I've kind of fallen in love with this particular one of Karine, above, because it's from after she and "Dr." Robert Wohlfahrt started having their affair. (I know this because of her extreme weight loss and the fact she hardly ever used the computer.) From the look on her face, I can now see 1) she was writing to him as this photo was taken 2) she knew she was busted but thought, since it was being carried out in French, I was too dumb to ever discover what was going on, and 3) she hated my guts but wasn't going to tell me until she had her plans perfectly mapped out - because she's so fucking nice and honest.

And I remember one time, during this period, hearing her say some crazy NewAge-y thing and replying to her, "You really need to get some smarter friends. Start hanging out with doctors, or scientists, or something." and (with a knowing look) Karine replying, "I'm thinking about doing just that." As we can see in this photo, this a-hole seriously thought she was being fucking smart. It truly boggles the mind when I realize how short-sighted and dumb she actually is.

But now, together, those two NewAge idiots have killed two people in France (three, if you count Karine's mother, and I certainly do) which ought to put things in some kind of perspective. I mean, if nothing else, isn't the effect NewAge has had on the lives around this one woman delightful?

It's like all of Karine's NewAge dreams have come true,...with nothing but her "brilliant" mind - and her belief in "energy" - she's finally changed everything, forever.

"The Nineties was,...the decade of the New Age. In London, 'New Age' pretty much boiled down to reading self-help, going to therapy, consulting alternative practitioners and doing a lot of (horribly gruelling) Ashtanga yoga. I heartily embraced all of this. Having been brought up in a very pragmatic and secular atmosphere, I found it exciting to let a little magic back in. I didn't really believe in astrology, for example, but I enjoyed the mysticism of it and even went to classes for a bit.

The downside came some years later, when all that magic had morphed into a worrying tendency to magical thinking. I was trying to get pregnant and an idea was beginning to take hold in my woolly New Age head that my failure was something to do with my faulty attitude. Homeopaths, Chinese doctors, acupuncturists and well-meaning friends implied that I just didn't want it enough. So really my failure was, in some ineffable way, my own fault – and that's enough to make anyone anxious.

The tipping point with the alternative world came when a friend of a friend swore by an applied kinesiologist she knew. The recommendation was so heartfelt and I wanted to get pregnant so much that I didn't dare not go. The practitioner put brightly coloured plastic eyeshades on my head while making me hold small glass vials of nutrients and doing 'muscle tests' – she moved my arm up and down.

It didn't work but, as always with alternative therapies, I got the feeling that was my fault. I should have taken the pills that didn't seem to be doing anything for longer. I shouldn't have eaten dairy. I shouldn't have used peppermint toothpaste. I should have had those mercury fillings removed. I think, though, it was the coloured eyeshades: they were just too hokey. Thank goodness I went to a proper doctor, had my fallopian tubes unblocked (the real problem) and got pregnant immediately."

-- Amy Jenkins, explaining how an appeal to "mysticism" - and her so-called "friends" - caused her "woolly New Age head" to become a mental (and financial) victim of NewAge practitioners quacks, before joining the ranks of The Independent.

Friday, November 28, 2008

"A former physiotherapist who was permanently stripped of his licence to practice over professional misconduct and sexual abuse is facing a sexual assault charge.

Richard Herman Holzschuh Sator, 45, was arrested and charged last-week with one count of sexual assault in connection with a homeopathic clinic he operates out of his home.

Kingston Police detectives arrested Holzschuh Sator on Thursday night. He was charged and held in custody at Kingston Police headquarters overnight.

Police say Holzschuh was charged after a 21-year-old woman attended his clinic for treatment on Nov. 4, 2008 at 11:45 a. m.During the treatment, the accused allegedly made inappropriate contact with the woman using his hands, police say.

The victim, who felt his actions were unnecessary and not part of the treatment, left the clinic and called police on Nov. 11, police say. Officers initiated an investigation into the matter.

Holzschuh Sator, who is a registered member of the Canadian Society of Homeopaths, runs a business called the Family Health and Pain Clinic out of his home.

Officials at the Canadian Society of Homeopaths weren't available to comment on the criminal charge.

The organization outlines its Code of Ethics on a website that states that all members 'agree to observe the fundamental principles of respect, honesty, and courtesy in order to maintain the integrity, dignity, and credibility of the art and science of homeopathy.'"

-- Jennifer Pritchett, pretending homeopath's take the phrase "code of ethics" any more seriously than they do "medicine", in Ontario, Canada's Northern News.

Comments

"The Crack Emcee is the Truth-teller and the Trickster, he is the Jokerman: he is the Black Conservative who has found his own ‘Slow Train Coming.’ To repurpose a bit of Dylan history: the commenters are yelling at him ‘Judas’ and his reply is ‘I don’t believe you.’"

"In a different time and place, Crack and I knew each other pretty well and his work inspired me. Though more political and sociological, he covers a similar ground from a non-believers perspective, but is unabashedly conservative politically. Check it out, but it's deep dark water; the feints may be indistinguishable from the sincere and it's not for the faint-of-heart."

"Raising his Pimp Hand to the Lunatic Fringe. Yeah, I list him three times. You need to read his blog. Danger: You might not get it at first but I assure you that when you do, you will slap yourself in the head like the idiot you once were. Read it. Love it. Learn it. And that pile of smelly goo at yer’ feet? That’s just the entrails of your stinking idols baking in the hot sand of the Crack Emcee’s arena."

"He imbues his words with so much bite, wit and shading that a lyric sheet doesn't begin to suggest the depth of what he's conveying. What he does is articulate soul-knowledge, those truths we hide from or can't find the words for. You listen to it with mouth agape, not because it's radical in content but because it's raw and honest, unconcerned with the truth-gagging politics of celebrity -- which perhaps makes it radical after all. If Paul Mooney and Nina Simone had a baby, then ignored it, leaving it to raise itself up by its own brilliant and righteously embittered genes, the Crack Emcee would be the result."

"I have been mulling over for awhile now how I might act as a ‘force for good’ in this world. I am particularly interested in the danger associated with cults and indoctrination at all levels of the human experience. How might I help combat this? The Crack Emcee does it,...in addition to blogging on his many other interests, and he has been a big inspiration."

"Day after day, post after post, he gives incredible insight into issues we're all pursuing, but he's got this funky, incredible, hilarious, SPOT-ON take on things. He is a one-man Time Magazine, the way it SHOULD be.

"I just came across The Macho Response. A lovely blog,...that describes the writer's journey from Democrat to Republican. There are lots of pretty pictures illustrating his story. What he looks at with a particularly bright eye is the occultism that is at the core of the Democrat world view today."

"A politically-incorrect blog out in the Bay Area…There is an occasional picture that is not quite appropriate to an office environment, although I’m not sure this by itself justifies a 'NSFW' warning…language isn’t fit for family viewing. The ideas are definitely dangerous. Unsuitable opinions. Terrible taste. Pictures of strange ugly creatures. Yup, we’re cousins, alright,...I’m certainly gonna read this 'Macho Response' guy."

As a former homeopathic 'doctor', I commend you for your bravery and brilliance.

Your blog is like an antidote to the 'New' Age too-cool-for-school-aid that America's been drinking like it's going out style...which, with the help of brilliant minds like you, hopefully it is. The sooner the better, for all our sakes.

I can't thank you enough for saving me from the eau de toilet/oprahahaha cesspool..."